Nearly two years after the province’s highest court opened marriage to same-sex couples, Ontario’s Legislative Assembly formally redefined the institution Feb. 24.

Legislators rewrote the definitions of “spouse,” “spousal,” “marriage,” “marital,” “husband,” “wife,” “widow” and “widower” in 73 laws to include same-sex couples.

They also exempted religious officials and institutions from having to perform or host same-sex weddings if they don’t want to.

Courts in eight of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories have legalized same-sex marriage and the federal Parliament is expected to do so nationwide this year.

Argentina’s second-most-watched TV network, Channel 13, has launched a gay dating show complete with same-sex kissing.

“12 Corazones-Especial” (12 Hearts-Special) features a contestant who chooses a date from a group of potential suitors. It is a carbon copy, but for the gay twist, of the popular heterosexual show “12 Corazones.”

“Argentine society is asking for television programming that reflects reality,” hostess Andrea Politti told the Pacific News Service.

The gay version of the show is among the five most-watched programs on the day it airs.

There have been no complaints about the show, Pacific News said.

Greece’s National Commission for Human Rights said Feb. 25 that the nation should pass a civil-union law to recognize and extend spousal benefits to same-sex relationships.

The Justice Ministry can choose to follow or ignore the committee’s advice.

“We are dealing with this only as a state issue. We do not care if the church agrees or not,” said commission spokesperson Christina Papadopoulou.

Gay groups welcomed the proposal but said it doesn’t go far enough.

A federal prosecutor in the Brazilian farming and factory town of Taubaté is mounting the nation’s first serious case aimed at legalizing same-sex marriage, Reuters reported Feb. 27.

“Gays deserve equal rights, not more rights or less rights,” said João Gilberto Gonçalves. “This is something that should be discussed objectively, without interference by the church’s moral standard of marriage.

“A long time ago it was considered inappropriate to talk about equal rights for women and blacks,” he said. “The church used to teach that blacks didn’t have souls. We now know that’s an entirely absurd idea. I think in the future we will look back and be shocked by how poorly we treated homosexuals.”

If Gonçalves’ administrative filing faces repeated challenges and appeals, it will travel through three federal courts and end up at the Supreme Court, a process that could take 10 years.

Brazil’s constitution is one of only a handful in the world that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, Reuters claimed.

Taubaté is about 80 miles northeast of São Paulo.

Meanwhile, a new Instituto Sensus poll has found that Brazilians oppose same-sex civil unions 60 percent to 33 percent. One state, Rio Grande do Sul, offers such unions.

The poll questioned 2,000 adults and has a margin of error of 3 percent.

Hundreds of people marched in Cape Town, South Africa’s Pride parade Feb. 26, including traffic cops twirling their truncheons, the Sunday Argus reported.

Mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo kicked off the procession which was followed by a big street bash in Green Point.

The 10-day-long Cape Town Pride Festival also featured parties, films, art exhibitions and the crowning of Miss Gay Pride 2005.

The Romanian gay group Accept won a discrimination case against the state-owned TAROM airline March 1 after same-sex couples were excluded from a Valentine’s Day promotion.

The company offered a two-for-one fare to couples traveling together during February, but Accept leader Florin Buhuceanu and his partner, and at least three other same-sex couples, were told they did not qualify.

The National Council for Combating Discrimination fined TAROM $180 for “restricting the free access, under equal conditions, to public services and places” and ordered the airline to teach its staff about discrimination.

Buhuceanu called the fine “ridiculously small” and said the group now will sue for damages in civil court.

Sweden’s government is preparing to lift the ban on state-funded insemination services for lesbian couples, local media reported in early March.

At present only heterosexual couples – married or living together – can access the procedures.

According to the reports, a child born to a lesbian couple inseminated within Sweden would be considered to have two mothers. If the insemination occurred outside Sweden, however, the non-biological mother would have to adopt the child.